Soggy Dollar – back open for business post hurricane!

Jost Van Dyke is one of the most famous islands in the BVI, thanks to three bars – Foxy’s, Ivan’s, and the Soggy Dollar. I’m happy to report that two out of three are open for business again and Ivan’s is getting close!

Saturday morning we decided to hike over the hill to White Bay, home of the Soggy Dollar. It was hot and sticky even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, but we needed some exercise. The management team at the Soggy Dollar were already setting up. We offered to help if they needed anything, but like Foxy’s, they said spending money was the best thing we could do at that point and offered up drinks.

JVD church

It was so strange to have a beach to ourselves that is normally flooded with boats and people. There was one lonely catamaran on a mooring with no sign of life. This must be what it was like when people were first cruising down here thirty years ago. Fun to have it to ourselves, but heartbreaking for the businesses that need to be rebuilt and the time it will take.

Gazpacho – classy fancy lunch

We did find out that a beach party was going on next door at Hendo’s Hideout the next day so we came back by dinghy. Post storm, every Sunday a different bar is selected and everyone shows up to show support and simply relax when spending every other waking moment cleaning up and recovering. It was incredible to meet all sorts of people from both the BVI and the USVI & to hear their stories. Despite everything that they’ve been through, the resilience is there and they’ll rebuild and things will come back. And in the meantime it was time to relax with a painkiller in hand and enjoy the beach and the water.

Dock pre-work

Monday morning we thought about moving on, but decided to go in one last time to say goodbye to Foxy. At the dinghy dock I noticed boats unloading lumber and lots of tools. I casually asked one of the guys what they were doing and did they need any help. Turns out they were from Kenny Chesney’s LoveForLoveCity Foundation. Though they were originally set up to help rebuild on St John (where Chesney has a home), they’ve extended work to Jost Van Dyke given Chesney’s close connections to the island. That day the team was there to rebuild the government dock to the island. The dock is critical because it’s the main one – used for customs, the medical clinic, and even the bars. New Years is always a huge deal on the island (supposedly one of the top three places to celebrate along with Times/Trafalgar Squares in NYC/London) and this one is going to be really important post-storm and because it’s a celebration of Foxy’s 80th birthday.

Finished dock

The team readily accepted our help and we headed back to the boat to grab our workgloves and shoes. The work wasn’t easy – especially since there was no hiding from the beastly sun. We were ripping up the old dock and replacing with new lumber. But the team moved fast and worked hard and it was a pleasure to help them. They even treated us to lunch at Foxy’s, over which we found out that Seth, one of team members, was formerly a chef and had set up the Rhumb Line Restaurant in Camden, Maine – where we visited earlier this summer! Small world sometimes.

It was a long hot slog, but we managed to get the dock done by the end of the day. Back at Foxy’s for drinks we met a local dive shop operator who accepted our help for the next day clearing debris, and met Rob, one of the other foundation members who said he’d definitely have things for us to help out with the following day. Looks like we were in business!

The next morning we met up with Greg and his team at Jost Van Dyke Scuba. They were already rebuilding the main building, but debris and inventory needed to be cleared from the yard to make room for a container being delivered to hold equipment and supplies as they rebuilt. It was a daunting task because the bugs were awful and there was so little room, but we managed to pile up the debris in the far corners and stack kayaks and paddleboards to make room.

The last board on the dock!

We caught up with Rob the third morning and he took us over to the medical clinic. They had already put on a new reinforced roof, so we took on the next phase. Trip prepped the walls and spackled so they could be painted later and I did demo work on tiles on the walls. No bugs this time and even better out of the sun, but still hot and dusty work. Worse, the tile fragments were coming off in shards and I looked down to see my legs bleeding in several spots. Good thing we were at the medical clinic, because the nurse practitioner was just downstairs and cleaned/patched me up pretty quickly. Rob was nice enough to drive us over the hill back to the Soggy Dollar at the end of the day – turns out he’s good friends with the management team so we enjoyed a few painkillers there as the sun went down. We headed back across town and stopped at a more ‘local’ establishment – A&B’s which is nothing more than plywood and drinks in coolers, but the locals hang out there and we heard yet more incredible stories about the storm.

We started to think about extending our stay and hitting Foxy’s for New Years Eve…